Binance Weibo account shut down over alleged local law violations

Crisis has befallen cryptocurrency exchange Binance amid reports that it’s looking to make a return to China. On Wednesday, the company’s official Weibo account was shut down, along with the accounts of its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, and co-founder and CMO Yi He.

According to reports, Weibo users complained that three accounts were “violating the local law and Weibo regulations.” The Weibo accounts of other crypto exchanges were not affected.

#cryptocurrency #CryptocurrencyNews #crypto Binance China social account was blocked due to legal issue. China market shown a clear signal to Binance: door’s closed. @business @crypto @lawmaster @VitalikButerin @katherineykwu @pamambler @Bitfinexed @TheBlock__ @OKEx @HuobiGlobal pic.twitter.com/ebqh0qf3v4

— HaSeongWon (@HaSeongWon1) November 14, 2019

Binance has reportedly announced late Wednesday night that “they’ve been actively negotiating with Weibo” to get the accounts restored. At press time, Zhao and He’s accounts are already back online, but the official Binance Weibo account remains blocked.

The now-Malta based crypto exchange fled China in 2017 amid the Beijing government’s ban on cryptocurrency trading. Now, reports have surfaced that Binance is making its way back to China as the country makes a positive shift towards blockchain.

A Binance representative was quoted saying, “We plan to do more to support blockchain development in China and globally. We do not have an office in China, but are planning to grow our presence more in this important market.”

The exchange rolled out a peer-to-peer trading service in China in October, allowing users to trade BTC, ETH and USDT via Alipay and WeChat Pay. In response, Alipay warned transactions “identified as being related to bitcoin or other virtual currencies” would be stopped immediately.

There're several reports about @Alipay being used for bitcoin transactions. To reiterate, Alipay closely monitors over-the-counter transactions to identify irregular behavior and ensure compliance with relevant regulations. [cont'd…]

— Alipay (@Alipay) October 10, 2019

This post will be updated as more information comes in.